Optical hole inspection apparatus and methods
AssigneeThe Boeing Company
InventorsStephen J. Bennison, Mark Douglas Fuller, Austin R. Sivret, Bruce Stanley Howard, Brian T. Miller
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Abstract
Optical hole inspection apparatus and methods are disclosed. An example probe for providing an image of an interior of a hole of a structure including a camera coupled to a lens, a tube coupled to the lens adjacent a first end of the tube and coaxial with an axis of the lens, and a mirror coupled to the tube adjacent a second end of the tube opposite the first end to reflect light traveling toward a longitudinal axis of the tube to the lens.
Claims20
A probe for providing an image of an interior of a hole of a structure comprising:
- a camera coupled to a lens;
- a tube coupled to the lens adjacent a first end of the tube and coaxial with an axis of the lens;
- and
- a mirror coupled to the tube adjacent a second end of the tube opposite the first end to reflect light traveling toward a longitudinal axis of the tube to the lens.
A controller for an optical inspection device, the controller comprising:
- interface circuitry to send data to and receive data from the optical inspection device;
- machine readable instructions;
- and
- programmable circuitry to at least one of instantiate or execute the machine readable instructions to:
- receive image data from the optical inspection device, the image data corresponding to an assembly;
- analyze the image data to detect a boundary within a hole in the assembly;
- measure the boundary;
- and
- generate measurement data corresponding to the boundary.
A method of inspecting holes in a structure, the method comprising:
- inserting a camera probe into a hole;
- instructing the camera probe, via a controller, to collect image data corresponding to an interior surface of the hole;
- and
- instructing the controller to process the image data to detect a discontinuity on the interior surface of the hole.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.